Discover Torre dei Lamberti

Torre dei Lamberti is Verona's tallest historic tower, rising 84 metres above Piazza delle Erbe and Piazza dei Signori. Construction began in 1172, and later enlargements produced its alternating bands of brick and pale stone.

The tower formed part of Verona's civic complex. Its bells gave the city an audible rhythm: the Rengo summoned civic councils and sounded alarms, while the Marangona marked working hours and warned of fire.

The tower is built in two clearly different campaigns, and the join is visible from the square.

The lower section, from 1172, is Romanesque: alternating bands of brick and tufa, plain and heavy, with few openings. This is the twelfth-century work of the Lamberti family.

The upper section is fifteenth-century, added between 1448 and 1464 after lightning damage. It is lighter and more articulated, with a Gothic belfry of tall arched openings and, above it, an octagonal lantern and spire.

The change in material and rhythm partway up is not a defect but the plainest possible record of the tower's history.

Inside, 368 steps climb to the viewing level; a lift covers most of the ascent for those who want it.

The join is visible from the square, and it is the whole story. The lower shaft is twelfth-century work: alternating courses of brick and pale tufa, heavy, nearly windowless, built for stability rather than display. Above roughly halfway the banding stops and the fifteenth-century campaign takes over in finer brick, with real openings and a marble belfry — the same tower, three hundred years apart, built by people with different tools and different intentions.

Why it is thin. A medieval tower of this height is essentially a hollow masonry tube, and its stability comes from wall thickness at the base rather than from any frame. The walls narrow as they rise, which is why the internal stair gets tighter toward the top, and why the usable floor at the belfry is small.

Finished late, and for a reason. The octagonal marble lantern and the bell stage were added in the 1448–1464 campaign after lightning destroyed the medieval summit. The Marangona bell hanging there is the one that survived.

Is there a lift? Yes, and it does not go to the top. It covers most of the climb and leaves a final flight of stairs, so the tower is not fully step-free even with the lift working.

Where is the entrance? Not from Piazza delle Erbe, which is the side everyone photographs. Entry is through the Cortile Mercato Vecchio, the courtyard behind, shared with Verona’s medieval civic palace.

Will the bells ring while I am up there? They can. They are loud at close range, and the viewing level is directly beneath them.